You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Think I probably know the answer-find a welder and hand over a chunk of cash.
2 cracks. VW T5, where the boot hinges attach to the bodywork. It’s a top hinge-and I believe as part of the conversion was modified from barn door set up. Guessing aluminium. Only noticed after found a water leak where the rear wiring loom is routed behind rear arch. Removing years of grime showed up these bad boys. Probably from years of hanging heavy mtbs on the rack. Also likely been like that for years. Is an epoxy filler even worth it short term? Can’t find any local body shops interested. 
No idea, but I am off to check my van now!
Smother in JBWeld - like an inch thick, extending 6 inches each side of the hinge. Apply cling film to each side to prevent it sealing the tailgate shut. Close tailgate and allow to set. Forget about it.
Or find a welder. Welder is probably best.
It is a steel body not aluminum.
Repair process would go something like:
Remove anything locally they will be in the way. Cover everything else with non flammable stuff. Wire wheel or paint removal disc to clean of the pain and expose the end of the crack, drill crack the ends, grind out the grot as required, make a repair patch to replace the rotten and damaged area and maybe a spreader or doubler plate load. Weld. Check it fits back together how it should with the right panel gaps. Surface dress, mask, prep, Prime, flat repeat and paint. paint.
Also depends how nice you want it to look.
Easy to make worse very quickly if you don't know what your doing.
Where are you as I know someone that could be willing to sort it, that is located south ish of Worcester.
Some repair plates from 2mm steel which go well beyond the rusty area and lots of pop rivets would be a lot stronger than epoxy.
Where are you as I know someone that could be willing to sort it, that is located south ish of Worcester.
Glasgow. Bit far, but not ruling anything out!
This is why you should lube your hinges. Get grease in if you can but a squirt of GT85 is better than nowt.
Yeah, Ducato type vans are notorious for the hinges seizing up and cracking the body panels. Ours had become very stiff so I took em off to free up and then drilled em and fitted grease nipples.
I don't know VW's but I'd be looking to cut that ****ed section out of another bodyshell that hadn't suffered the same (if there are any?) chop the rust and cracked areas out of your shell then Mig the replacement section in. Also investigate where the water that's gone through those cracks has been going - more rust?
All depends if it's a long term keeper or not.
The biggest issue and one that's making my teeth itch is why is there a single VAG trisquare fastener when the rest are shitty 8.8 hex heads?
Because it's been converted from barn doors as our OP tells us, Rusty, they used whatever bolds were to hand. Did they fit the reinforcing plates behind the hinge when they bolted it on?
IIRC that whole top section of the door aperture is bonded to the roof and welded to the rear 3/4 sections. I bet its available as a bodywork part. A trip to TPS might be in order to see if you can find the part number - and any reinforcing components the converter has failed to fit.
Then I'd try and find an enthusiastic VW bodywork place. They do exist, possibly less so up in Glasgow, Paint'n Place in Blyth, Northumberland is the kind of outfit you're after. A normal bodyshop won't want to touch it as there'll be all sorts of bizarreness lurking to do with the conversion. You need someone who is going to want to fix it.
I'm no welder (just ugly and dirty stick welding on bits and pieces) but I'm wondering if the hinges could be removed, the crack carefully ground out and welded up?
It kinda depends on why it cracked in the first place - is there not enough reinforcement behind the hinges or did they just seize up and start flexing the mounting points?
Either way it is likely to go again 😩
As others have said it does look like a reinforcing plate was missed at conversion. A search would of t6 forum would probably reveal, and probably the part number too.
7H0827689 hinge spreader plate. Wether that helps or not, or indeed wether they were fitted i don't know.
Could you put the old doors back on?
Don’t have the old doors, but it’s an option I’ve already looked at. I’m also thinking that the spreader plate may be missing or inadequate. That said, I’ve probably been a bit overly zealous with the weight of bikes on the California rack. 2 heavy 29er mtbs + 2 incarnations of kids bikes over 12 years/hundreds of trips. Not sure if the mount is really designed to take such weight, especially if someone were to, say, try and get in the boot with all the bikes on.
2 heavy 29er mtbs + 2 incarnations of kids bikes over 12 years/hundreds of trips.
Oh.
I'm not sure the original design would have accommodated stresses like that.
Not sure they have a spreader plate? Seen loads and loads and loads and loads of people do barn door > tailgate conversions on T5>T6.1s and can't recall ever hearing of needing a spreader plate. Does look like a stress fracture in my uneducated view though. Given how much stress that area might deal with, I'm not sure putting a body cut in there (unless it was a substantial one!) would work.
Getting rid of the rust, plating it all up and refitting barn doors (which people almost give away) would make sense to me assuming you don't still carry bikes on the tailgate?
I don't have a full 7zap account so I can't get parts numbers, but it looks like the structure is double skinned (unless, and I doubt this, the structure is different between tailgated and barn doored transporters). There's an inner crossmember which is bonded to the roof and welded to the sides, and the roof which matches the crossmember profile and fits over it. Then the hinges are bolted through both with the reinforcement being fitted on the inside of the crossmember. It'll be a right @%5e of a job. As I suggested above, you need a VW enthusiast bodyshop. Or a cliff and a dodgy handbrake. 